NEW YORK — Indiana wants the NBA All-Star Game and sent Larry Bird to get it — in an Indy car.
Bird drove four blocks down Fifth Avenue in his car Monday to deliver the Pacers’ bid to host the 2021 game to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, fitting his 6-foot-9 frame into a car usually driven by much shorter people.
Bird, an Indiana native and now the Pacers president, had driven an Indy car only once, during his practice for his drive Monday.
Drawing a crowd of a couple hundred spectators, he maneuvered along the left lane, exited his yellow and blue “Larry Bird” car and called it a “little rough ride” because of his big feet and the car’s small pedals.